Gassing the car isn't possible from that distance (I need to change my loadout for the van's grenades).  You can toss a stun grenade if you want.  If you put it near the open door, that should affect Cleo too.  If you like, you can hold to see if he complies with the order to get on the ground first.  Holding also means that the grenade will launch and detonate before he gets another action - meaning he can't run away.

Or you can shoot him right away, which is probably funnier.

Understood, thanks.  I have updated my post.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:40, Fri 23 Dec 2016.

Technically you can only aim one of the two weapon systems - one grenade launcher or the pair of rifles.

Oh, ok.  I shall edit my post again.

Oh, I know I can cover Cleo.  But whether or not I accidentally kill her is another matter.

Why not just blow apart Pengrave's legs or torso (if that's easier) with your drone?  I mean, we only need the chips and one out of the two lovebirds...

Pardon me for the absurd-seeming question, but I'm a little lost here- we just came out of nowhere and damned near blew up Pengrave's car, but aside from being a total twit, I can't think up many good reasons we need to keep firing at him when he's running away. He hasn't eyeballed Nouras or CH to report their appearances to security, he hasn't seen Cad since the party, and Duck's approaching with a different appearance than when he was last spotted.

We have Cleo where we want her, we've scored a chip and possibly a lead on more if removing the chip snaps her out of it, and we can even retrieve our tracker. We've managed to pull things off with zero body count since the ambush, and for all Pengrave knows this could have been just a random incident of road rage. All signs point to Cleo having an undue amount of influence over him, so hell, maybe he'll run off with one hell of a party story and lose his penchant for dangerous women? I just can't seem to find justification or necessity in killing this guy, as I seriously doubt he'll continue to be a problem as long as we get the hell out of the area after we retrieve Cleo and the chip.

Pengrave may have information on where the other chips are.  He was in heavy communication with Junior at the time he was organizing the run that stole the chips.  And he may be able to share some of the information Cleo would otherwise be able to share if it turns out that yanking the chip scrambles her brain.  Plus, I'd rather not have a high-powered C-level type wandering around uncontrolled.  If he walks outside the jamming area, he could bring down the heat before we're ready.  Alternatively, he could go fall off a cliff or get himself eaten by a bear and accidentally get us on the hook for murder rather than property damage.  Finally, I wouldn't mind getting some sort of blackmail material we can hold over his head to encourage him to let bygones be bygones instead of stirring up trouble for us over the next couple of weeks.

We definitely don't want to kill him - thus stun grenades and gel rounds.  I just want him available for questioning/mind probing and to keep him safely contained

In that case, would it be advisable for me to just have Duck pursue?

I think Noruas and I should be able to handle him.  Cleo's our top priority and you're the only one who can easily get a line of sight on her.  And if he does slip away, it's probably not fatal to the mission, just annoying.  Even if we lose sight of him short-term, with my sensors I can probably pick him up and track him again, though this weather and terrain won't be ideal for that.

My thought is to keep them secured and hooded in the van and take a quiet, restful drive to somewhere semi-secure where Copperhead can try some first aid.  While we're in transit, Noruas can try to crack their phones and White Duck can see what intel he can get out of them.  When Caduceus is better rested he can mind probe them and, if it seems appropriate, heal them.  We then figure out a place to drop them off where they'll be safe or where we can stow them until end-of-mission based on what seems wisest given what they have to share.

@Caduceus in the future, you may want to roll per box because the modifiers will be different once you drop from medium down to light stun.  As well, it will even out the results of a bad roll.
I.e. 2 tests against TN 4 with base time of one hour, then 2 tests against TN 3 with base time of one hour

In this case, probably not worth re-rolling as the results would likely be about the same as what you've already rolled seeing as you rolled slightly better than average.

Good to know.  I was wondering if I was supposed to do it one box at a time or as a lump sum.  The book wasn't too clear to me.  But I figured I could always make more rolls later if necessary, since it would be the same target number and number of dice for the first roll no matter what.  The only difference would be the amount of time it applies to.  I'll gladly make more rolls if needed, but I'm happy with the roll I already got too.  Can't complain about x4 recovery speed!

Indeed :>

Unless there is an emergency, Caduceus is going to keep resting until he is all un-stunned, so don't wait on him.

My leaning would be to hit the apartment first to see what intel we can get, then do the barrens (on the grounds that gathering intel before heading into hostile territory makes more sense than doing it after).  Also the Barrens will probably be calmer in the morning when everyone's tired and nursing hang-overs than they will be in the deep of night when everything's more active.  Finally, if anyone's going to be in the apartment, 3 or 4 am is our most likely time to find them there.  And, so long as we're quiet, odds of anyone paying much attention to us is slim.

In terms of Pengrave,  I'm happy enough for White Duck to roll to see what useful info he can get from his person and Noruas to see what he can get from the devices and for BB to just narrate us over that bit.  But if either of you want to roleplay it that's cool too.

Sounds like a solid plan.  Assuming Caduceus is rested up by the time they get to the apartment, he can do an astral sweep of the place to see if anyone is home.  If so, find out if they are awake too.

We definitely won't do anything further until you're fully rested.

My plan is to see what Papa says Copperhead sees when she scans the warehouse.  If it looks safe to approach, Caduceus can take a stealthy astral jaunt to see if there's any significant opposition around.  If it looks safe enough, we may as well hit that first seeing as we're in the vicinity.  If it looks too hot, we can do the appartment first, catch a bit of rest and then hit the warehouse in the early am when the Barrens are generally calmest.

Caduceus: I have a question about how your mind-link spell works.  Does it still function while you're astral?  If so, that could be *really* handy - you could act as a spotter for blind fire or provide eyes on while the rest of us are sneaking around and communicate real-time.  What force do you know it at?  I presume your magic rating is 6?

Yeah, might as well take a peek at the warehouse while we are here if it's viable.

Caduceus has Mind Link 2 and magic 6, so his maximum range is 12 meters (nearly 40 feet).  After it is cast it needs to be sustained, so going astral (an exclusive complex action) would require terminating the spell first.  Caduceus could cast it from the astral plane after jumping out of his body, but the target would have to be using astral perception and he would risk physical damage from drain rather than stun damage (a minor risk for a force 2 spell).  Caduceus could cast it on the physical plane and use his own astral perception from there, but he wouldn't be able to fly through walls and bullets would still hurt him.

He could manifest though and point out people that are hiding.  Cameras and audio recorders wouldn't be able to pick him up and I believe living targets (they can see him too) could only really hurt him with mana abilities.  There's probably some other creative uses for manifestation we could use too.

Does White Duck have astral perception?  That could work.  Manifesting is ok, but it's not as effective as having the shotgun aimed at the door and having someone watching the other side who can say "fire . . . now!" as the target hits the right spot.  Needing to go look, come back, manifest, communicate, return to where you were isn't as effective for that sort of thing.  Though certainly better than not having an astral scout at all.

I think White Duck had it originally, but ended up switching out astral perception for a different ability.

[Edit] Also, I think you get a penalty if you are astrally perceiving while doing things like shooting shotguns.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Thu 09 Feb 2017.

The notion is White Duck could astrally perceive while you cast the spell, then drop astral perception.  He'd have his regular perception and could fire through the door when you told him to.  The net effect would be a significant reduction in the penalty for blind fire.  Anyhow, I guess the point is moot unless you get a sustaining focus given if he doesn't have astral perception.

I believe only a ghoul could fire a gun with astral perception (which they naturally have and cannot turn off, right?...) and not have any penalties.

I think they have penalties for that too.  But they have benefits that make up for those penalties . . .